1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a driveshaft produced in one piece by a forming operation, especially for driving a motor vehicle, designed in the form of a tubular shaft with a central tube region with a larger outer diameter, having end regions at both ends as well as toothed receiving regions for connecting elements for torque transmitting purposes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
DE-PS 30 09 277 purposes a driveshaft of this type for being used as a side shaft in the motor vehicle drive. The driveshaft substantially consists of a tubular shaft comprising two ends with stepped diameters with receiving regions for the joints. The entire central part of the tubular shaft is designed to be cylindrical and has the maximum outer diameter. In order to achieve a uniform mechanical strength over the entire region of the tubular shaft, the wall thickness is reduced with an increasing outer diater. The disadvantage of this design is that attention is paid to the aspect of mechanical strength only and that adjustment of the natural bending frequency to existing requirements can be achieved within a limited extent only, with the natural bending frequency as a rule being within the range of an excitation frequency of the engine/transmission system so that an interfering vibration noise cannot be avoided.